WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT OUR CHAINS (AND THE VIRUS)

The inability of our current economic and political system to deal with the coronavirus pandemic suggests that this could become the worst crisis in the history of capitalism.

WHILE THE GOVERNMENT continues to deny that the vaccination rollout has been dismally slow, it remains obvious that its only been in recent weeks that a new urgency has been embraced by the Labour Government. That has been prompted, of course, by the appearance of the much more contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus in New Zealand. Such has been the ramp up, the danger now is that supplies of the vaccine will run out. And while the Government won't admit there's a problem here either, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has still expressed the view that vaccine demand might have to be 'managed'. But we're not in danger of running out of vaccine, OK?

But the assumption that we can hide behind closed borders while we vaccinate most of the population and everything will be fine is a dubious assumption in the extreme, especially when much of the world isn't being vaccinated at anything close to appropriate levels. As the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned in February 'the longer it takes to vaccinate those most of risk everywhere, the more opportunity we give the virus to mutate and evade vaccines.' Already a new variant of the coronavirus has emerged in South Africa. Called C.1.2 it is reportedly even more contagious than the Delta variant and may be able to evade current vaccines. The only comfort  - cold as it is -is that C.1.2 isn't anywhere near to matching Delta's global takeover. Currently.

The working definition of a pandemic is 'the worldwide spread of a new disease' but the problem is that the world is not fighting the virus on anything near a global scale. While rich nations continue to ignore calls from the WHO and others to temporarily waver vaccine patents that would allow other countries to produce their own vaccines, it is estimated that less than two percent of people in poorer countries have received even one dose of the vaccine. At current rates, its estimated that nearly ninety countries will not have widespread vaccination programs until 2023 at the earliest.

Pfizer and Moderna, who have already made enormous profits from the vaccine, could donate supplies without it making much of a dent in their profit margins. The world's wealthy, who have grown even richer since the pandemic broke out, could easily contribute the funds to vaccinate  everyone in the world and still remain enormously wealthy.

It has been estimated by the People's Vaccine Alliance that the cost of vaccinating the world would be at least five times cheaper if pharmaceutical corporations were not profiteering from their monopolies over coronavirus vaccines. Little wonder that Pfziers's CEO has expressed the view that the pandemic has been 'a huge commercial opportunity', adding that booster shots could be a 'source of sustained revenues in the future.'

All of this is happening because we live under an economic system that places the profit of the few ahead of the interests of the many. As the Peoples Vaccine Alliance says :

'The privatisation and monopolisation of the vaccine science and technology, the profiteering by pharmaceutical corporations and the unforgivable behaviour of rich country governments are all responsible for today's vaccine scarcity and vaccine inequality. People in low and middle income countries are left without vaccines they need; high income countries are overpaying for the same vaccines; and all people in all countries remain at risk of new vaccine resistant variants.'

WHO has warned that 'unless we suppress the virus everywhere, we could end up back at square one'. But the inability of the current economic and political system to deal with this pandemic - because it is driven by profit - suggests that we could well end up back where we started from and this could become the worst crisis in the history of capitalism.  

But government's around the world, including the Labour Government in New Zealand, are determined to shore up our present failed economic system and the political status quo. They would rather risk further crises and more deaths than consider even the most minimal of reforms. This is why it is essential that we focus our energies towards system change and imagining our way out of capitalism. Because we cannot go back to the way things were.